


take me to church

by questionableatbest



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Accidental Drug Use, Drinking, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, it's all typical for canon and super casual tho i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-13 02:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9101584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/questionableatbest/pseuds/questionableatbest
Summary: nursey and dex take care of each other (ie. cuddle with each other) throughout various stages of intoxication





	1. dex gets high

**Author's Note:**

> i posted the first half of this on tumblr and people seemed to like it, so i decided to add a second half and plan out two more chapters to go along with it!
> 
> (also i haven't really edited this yet so please ignore any glaring errors and assume that this'll all look a lot better in a day or so)

Dex doesn’t do drugs.

He drinks and he parties along with the rest of his team and he has no problem with Nursey and Lardo smoking out back, but he also always turns down their offers to join them.

Sometimes he’ll go outside with them anyways and he’ll sit between them while they pass a joint back and forth, and sometimes he’ll breath in the smoke and imagine that he feels the affects, and sometimes Nursey gets extra affectionate and leans his head on Dex’s shoulder, but that’s it.

He never actually smokes, and nobody ever pressures him to.

Dex does, however, eat brownies. Especially when they look freshly baked and they’re sitting in Bitty’s kitchen and nobody else is around and he’s had the longest day of his life.

Because of that, he’s half way through his second brownie when Shitty walks into the kitchen, which-

Which kind of makes sense, because he’s pretty sure that Shitty and Lardo are dating, and Shitty’s around a lot despite graduating, but the look of near horror on his face doesn’t make sense, and Dex starts to worry.

He looks from the brownie, poised by his mouth, to Shitty, whose mouth is open in a gasp,  and he slowly puts it down on the paper towel in front of him, and then he says, “Hey?” and Shitty blinks.

“Did you- uh- how many of those did you have, Dexy?” Shitty asks, and Dex squints a tiny bit because Shitty’s voice is slightly higher than usual, and then Dex starts to feel even more nervous.

“Uh- two?” he says, and then asks, “Was Bitty saving them for something, or?” and Shitty bites his lip.

“Nah, man, uh- Bitty didn’t actually make those,” Shitty says, and that much makes sense because they’re a bit dry and the icing is the only real source of flavor, but then Shitty goes on with, “Uh- how are you feeling, there, buddy?” and a lot of things make sense all at once.

Dex says, “Fine,” because it’s the truth, but he also levels Shitty with the most intimidating glare he can muster and asks, “Why?” and Shitty looks more guilty than Dex has ever seen them, but then-

Then Lardo walks into the room and her eyebrows practically hit her hairline, and then she’s smirking. “Bro,” she says, looking at Dex and shaking her head, “You’re gonna be fucked in like, an hour, tops,” and Dex’s mind goes blank for half a second.

“I- you- wh- Are you fucking kidding me,” he finally settles on, and Shitty still looks guilty and Lardo looks way too amused, and Dex is 100% sure that he’s going to get kicked out of the NCAA for this.

He’s going to be subjected to a random drug test, and they’re going to find marijuana in his blood stream, and he’s going to get kicked out of hockey and out of school and he’ll be arrested and his life will end, and when he relays that much information to the two people standing in front of him, Lardo actually rolls her eyes.

“Bro,” she says, “The season’s over. That’s literally just not going to happen,” and Dex trusts her with his life, but that doesn’t really comfort him at all.

“You don’t know that,” he says, and his voice sounds like a whine and he hates that, but he hates a lot of things at the moment, so he brushes it off. “You poisoned me,” he says, accusingly, and Lardo rolls her eyes again.

“I swear to god, bro, you’ll be fine,” she says, and then adds, “Honestly, you could probably use the break. Relax a bit, and all that,” and Dex would yell at anybody else (re: Nursey) for saying that but, coming from Lardo, Dex can see that there’s a bit of truth there, so-

“Fine. Whatever. I don’t feel anything anyways so like, whatever. It’s probably not even working.”

“Actually-” Shitty starts talking, but a glare from Lardo cuts him off, and then she’s walking towards Dex and putting a hand on his shoulder, and it’s probably supposed to be comforting, but it only really puts him more on edge.

“It’ll be fine,” she repeats, and then says, “It’ll kick in soon, but that’ll be fine too,” and then she leans over and picks up the last bite of Dex’s second brownie and eats it. “Come on,” she says after that, “Let’s watch a movie, or something,” and Dex nods, because he doesn’t know what else to do.

He assumes that being high will be like being drunk and he figures that Lardo’s right about it kicking in sooner or later, but he also has no idea what to expect, so he figures that sticking with Lardo and Shitty is his best bet.

Of course, he also pulls out his phone and texts Nursey a quick, _‘Hey, just out of curiosity and 100% NOT because I accidentally ate a few pot brownies, what’s being high like?’_ because it seems like a good idea.

As always, Nursey responds right away. It reads, _‘dude what the fuck,’_ followed by, _‘how many brownies did you eat??’_ and then, _‘where are you??’_ and if all of that warms Dex’s heart a tiny bit, then that’s beside the point.

He tells himself that it’s the brownies, and he replies, _‘The Haus,’_ and then, _‘And like, 2?’_ and then, _‘They were Shitty’s,’_ and then his head starts to feel a bit fuzzy around the edges, in a way that isn’t actually unpleasant.

It feels warm and soft, and it makes Dex feel like he’s warm and soft.

It also makes the disgusting, toxic green couch feel warm and soft, and Dex is in the middle of marveling at that, when he hears Lardo and Shitty snicker.

He ignores them and focuses on the couch, until the movie they’d put on catches his attention.

Finding Nemo.

Dex isn’t going to cry.

Nemo’s mom dies and so do all of his brothers and sisters, and it’s all very sad, but Dex isn’t going to cry.

Shitty asks, “You doing okay there, Dexy?” and Lardo says, “It is very sad,” and Dex glares at both of them, and he’s ready to say something back, when-

“Chill, guys,” a deep voice says from across the room, and it’s a voice that Dex knows and it’s a voice that he loves, so he whips his head around to see it, and-

“Derek!” he says, and he knows he’s smiling too wide and he knows it makes his face look kind of crooked, but he can’t bring himself to care, because Nursey smiles back and that’s what really matters.

“We’re on a first name basis now, are we?” Nursey asks, and it sounds like a chirp but Dex just rolls his eyes.

“We’re friends,” he says, and Nursey’s smile is soft and warm and that reminds Dex of how soft and warm the couch is, which is why he says, “Come here,” and then he pushes himself into the corner of the couch to make room for Nursey, and then he waits.

Nursey is still smiling when he makes his way to the couch, and he tosses a slightly unimpressed look to Shitty and Lardo, before he sits down beside Dex and then smiles gently.

He puts an arm around the back of Dex’s seat, and Dex turns sideways so that he’s facing Nursey, and Nursey asks, “How ya doing, Dex?” and Dex squints while he tries to come up with an answer to that.

“Good,” he finally says, and Nursey looks like he wants to laugh, so Dex adds, “Better when you’re here,” and he doesn’t have it in him to blush, even when he realizes that he just used a line on his best friend.

For his part, Nursey takes it in stride.

He just keeps smiling, and he messes up Dex’s hair with one hand, and then the hand goes back to his shoulder and Nursey points him back towards the TV and says, “Let’s watch the movie, yeah?” and that sounds like the best idea in the world.

Dex pulls his legs into his chest so that he’s a ball, and then he leans into Nursey’s side and let’s his head fall on Nursey’s shoulder and plays with the hem of Nursey’s shirt, and for a while Dex just focuses on breathing.

He takes deep breathes and he marvels at how good Nursey smells, and at how soft and warm and comfortable Nursey is, and at how content he feels in that moment.

Dex feels warm and content and happy, to the point where he barely registers the words being said over his head.

He’s pretty sure that it’s Lardo who says, “Dude, I can see your heart eyes from here,” and it sounds like it’s Shitty who says, “Damn Nurse, you’re gone for him,” and it’s definitely Nursey who says, “Can you really blame me for that?” and Dex lets the words wash over them.

He doesn’t really know what they mean or why they make him feel even better, and he doesn’t dwell on them because he doesn’t have to.

Nursey is there, holding onto him and taking care of him and making sure that he’s okay, and Dex doesn’t have to worry about anything, so he doesn’t.

He burrows into Nursey’s side and he stays there for what feels like at least a million years and also barely just five seconds both at the same time, and then the room falls quiet and it gets a bit darker, and then Nursey shifts underneath him.

It feels like he’s trying to leave, and Dex panics.

He tries to grab Nursey’s hand, but by the time he gets there, Nursey is already standing up and Dex is way too slow and he only ends up with a fistful of his shirt, and the only noise Dex can manage to make sounds like a dying cat.

Fortunately, Nursey is quite possibly the kindest, most patient person on the planet, so he stops moving and leans back down.

It puts them at eye level with each other, and Dex hadn’t actually realized that he was lying down until that happened, but that’s beside the point.

The point is, is that Nursey is leaving and that’s the last thing on earth that Dex wants to happen, so finally Dex manages to say, “Don’t go,” and then Nursey smiles.

His smile is warm and beautiful like it always is, and a tiny bit placating but, considering the circumstances, Dex is willing to ignore that.

Of course, it also takes Dex a few moments to realize that Nursey’s talking, but then he puts all of the energy he can muster into focusing, and it gets easier.

Nursey says something that sounds like, “I’m not leaving,” and Dex frowns, but Nursey adds, “Bitty made pie- I’m just gonna grab us some,” and that explains a lot, because the Haus smells fantastic, so Dex nods.

He mutters, “Pie,” and Nursey nods too, and then he brushes a strand of hair off of Dex’s forehead and gets up to leave, and Dex knows that he’s coming back- he trusts Nursey to come back- but he misses him anyways.

He thinks about sitting up and then he does sit up, and then he looks around the room and realizes that it’s empty.

There are voices coming from the kitchen and there’s a light on in the hallway, but that’s it and for half a second Dex is worried that everybody on the planet is slowly disappearing, but then somebody laughs again and it sounds like Lardo, so he’s probably okay.

He wants to go see who’s in the kitchen and he wants to get pie for himself, but his arms are heavy and he doesn’t really know which leg to put on the ground first, so he just crosses them underneath himself and waits for Nursey and, after a moment, he comes back.

He looks beautiful, with the light from the hall framing his face and glowing behind him and his hair kind of looking like a halo and everything about him looking soft and warm and good, and Dex is almost positive that Nursey is an angel.

Derek Nurse has to be an angel, Dex decides, so when Nursey sits back down on the couch and puts a giant plate of pie in between them, Dex smiles and says, “Thanks, angel,” and then Nursey’s smile turns into something that Dex hasn’t seen before.

It’s crooked but huge and it almost looks like Nursey is embarrassed, but Dex doesn’t have a chance to focus on it, because Nursey just says, “Eat your pie,” and, really, that sounds like the best idea in the world.

The pie is delicious.

It’s cherry, which just so happens to be Dex’s favourite, and it’s still warm and the crust practically melts in his mouth and the filling is creamy and sweet and perfect, and it’s quite possibly the best thing that Dex has ever eaten and he comes to that conclusion after the first bite.

The second bite is just as good and so is the third, and Dex doesn’t even realize that he’s making appreciative noises until he’s on the last bite but, by that point, there’s really no point in caring.

He finishes off the pie and he lets himself moan at just how good it is, and then he says, “That was the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth,” and doesn’t bother caring about the double meaning that those words hold.

For his part, Nursey almost looks flushed and he almost looks irritated, but he just hands Dex a water bottle and says, “Good. Not drink this,” so that’s what Dex does.

He drinks the water to make Nursey happy, and he downs the bottle in one go to make him extra happy. He thinks he might have said something along those lines out loud, because Nursey says something along the lines of, “Of course I’m happy with you,” and that makes Dex feel like he’s on top of the world.

Of course, his head is also spinning and he’s kind of exhausted and the pie feels heavy in his stomach, so Dex frowns.

When he thinks about it, he’s had a long day.

He went for a run in the morning and then to the gym, and he had two classes before lunch and three after, and he hadn’t been back to his dorm at all yet. He’d spent his free time in the library, finishing an assignment he’d have to hand in before their next roadie, and he was mostly just running on coffee and a generalized sense of pride that he could never seem to ignore.

It was a lot, and he was tired, and he hadn’t exactly figured being accidentally poisoned by an ex-teammate into his plans for the evening, but it has happened anyways and now he's spending time with Nursey, which is something.

It's definitely something.

Mostly, Dex thought, it's something that he hasn't gotten to do in a very long time, because he's always just _so_ busy, and he kind of hates that.

He misses Nursey and he wants to say that, but Nursey is sitting right beside him so that won’t make sense so, in the end, Dex just mutters, “‘I’m happy with you too,” and he hopes that Nursey understands. He also says, “I’m tired now,” because that’s the truth, and then Nursey nods.

“I’ve got some readings to get done, but you sleep, okay?” he asks, and Dex isn’t even worried that Nursey’s going to leave him alone, but Nursey adds, “I’ll be right here the whole time,” anyways, and it makes Dex feel a million times better.

He nods and he says, “I know,” and then he moves his empty plate to the floor beside him, and then he doesn’t really think; he just leans against Nursey and curls up in a ball and closes his eyes, and he lets out a content sigh when he feels Nursey wrap an arm around him again.

He feels better than he ever has before, and he feels like he's where he belongs, and he feels like the entire world has aligned to bring him and Nursey together. A part of him wants to blame that on being high, but he also knows a blatant lie when he hears one, so he doesn't bother with that.

Instead, he closes his eyes and wills himself to fall asleep and, soon enough, he does. 

He sleeps and he doesn't dream and, when he wakes up hours later, feeling like a human being again, and he realizes that the Haus is even darker than before and that Nursey is asleep as well, Dex decides to sleep for a little while longer, curled up in his best friends' arms.


	2. nursey gets drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> nursey gets wasted at spring c, and dex is on nursey patrol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please don't hate me for not editing this
> 
> i'll edit it one day
> 
> but today just isn't that day

Nursey isn’t really sure what time it is, but he knows that Spring C is over and the sky is dark, so it’s definitely probably sometime at night.

He also knows that the team is having an after party at the Haus, and he doesn’t really know where any of his friends are or when he lost them, but that’s pretty much on par for every other Spring C he’s ever attended, so he doesn’t worry about that too much. Instead, he just heads for the Haus and, sure enough, he arrives there to find that a party is in full swing.

There are people on the grass and the porch and he can see people inside as well, and there’s music playing and laughter filling the air, and Nursey curses himself for thinking in cliché’s, but he’s also just a bit too drunk and a bit too excited to care.

He’d been tired before but, just like that, his second wind hits him, and Nursey stumbles inside. He waves to a few people he knows and fist bumps a few others, and then he does his best to head straight for the kitchen.

He knows that, realistically, he’s definitely at least a little bit drunker than he should be and that, because of that, he should probably have a glass of water or a slice of pie or something to counteract the hours’ worth of alcohol he’s drank today, but he also feels good and he doesn’t want it to stop.

He feels light and kind of dazed and he feels like the night is just beginning, and he doesn’t want sobriety to get in the way of that, so he opens the fridge and grabs a PBR, and he fumbles it a bit before he gets it opened but then it’s opened and he goes to take a sip, when-

“Do you really need another drink, Nurse?” Dex asks, and Nursey pauses, but he doesn’t lower the can. Instead, he turns with the can still mid-air and sees Dex leaning against the doorframe, at which point Nursey meant to finish the sip of beer in defiance, but he gets momentarily caught off guard by just how good Dex looks, and then-

And then he spills at least a quarter of the beer onto his shirt, and he’s not entirely sure how it even happened, but he says, “Oh fuck,” and then he jumps back and spills a bit more on the floor, and then he gets hold of himself and looks up just in time to see Dex hiding a smile. The cold beer and the slight embarrassment both hit Nursey at once and they clear his head a tiny bit, so he mutters, “I definitely need another drink,” and then he actually does take a sip of the beer.

When he looks up this time, Dex’s lips are pursed and his expression has morphed into something familiar, and Nursey isn’t particularly surprised when he says, “You also need a new shirt,” because he knows what’s happening.

Nursey Patrol is happening, and he kind of hates it.

Or. Well. He knows that he should hate it, and he knows that he would hate it if he was sober but, as it is, Nursey is just a bit too tipsy to hate the fact that Dex is going to spend the rest of the night following him around, taking care of him.

In fact, Nursey is just tipsy enough to love that fact, so he shrugs. “Probably,” he says, and then he heads for the table and takes a seat, and then Dex sighs and rolls his eyes.

“I’m getting you one from Chowder’s room,” he says, and then his eyes narrow a tiny bit more and he points a finger at Nursey and adds, “And I’m probably going to interrupt him and Farms mid-sex, so you’d better be sitting here when I get back,” and then he squares his shoulders and leaves the room, and Nursey has the pleasure of watching that.

In the time that Dex is gone, Nursey finishes his beer and grabs another one and is pleased to find that his head is turning cloudy again. For half a second he considers finding Lardo and lighting a joint, but then he remembers Dex telling him not to move, so he scratches that plan.

Of course, that plan also reminds him of a few weeks ago, when he’d gotten to experience Dex high out of his mind and way more affectionate than he’d ever been before and, well.

Nursey has been making a point of not thinking about that, because Dex calling him ‘angel,’ and muttering countless sweet nothings, and cuddling with Nursey like his life depended on it had been a lot and, if he let himself, Nursey could easily imagine them being like that all the time. He could easily imagine doing a lot more, too, but he knows better than to do that to himself.

He knows better than to pine after his best friend, so he isn’t going to.

Or, at least, he isn’t going to do it sober.

However, Drunk Nursey is another story entirely and, alone in the kitchen and waiting for Dex to bring him a dry shirt, it’s all Nursey can think about, so he does the only other thing he can think of, and he takes off his shirt.

He tells himself that it’s because he was getting sticky and gross and he almost believes it, but then Dex walks back into the kitchen and pauses when he sees Nursey’s bare chest and turns bright red and, yeah. That’s why Nursey took off his shirt.

He grins while Dex schools his expression into one that’s probably supposed to be blank, and then Nursey asks, “Problem?” and Dex rolls his eyes.

“Not at all, Nurse,” he says, and then he throws Nursey the shirt and heads for the fridge, and Nursey is pretty sure that Dex is going to get himself a drink, but then he just grabs a cloth and starts cleaning up the beer that Nursey spilt earlier, and-

“I can do that,” Nursey says, making no effort to actually move, and Dex looks up and raises an eyebrow, looking unimpressed but not quite irritated.

“You’ve been sitting here for five minutes and all you managed to do is strip. I think I’d better handle this one,” he says, and it sounds kind of flat but also like a chirp and Nursey notes that, really, chirping is practically flirting, so he takes it as a personal victory.

All him and Dex ever do is chirp each other, he realizes, so he decides to chirp Dex back, but he struggles to come up with something and all he ends up saying is, “You like it when I strip,” and, okay.

The second Nursey says that, he realizes that it’s barely even a chirp at all. It’s closer to a call out and it’s definitely a strange variation of flirting, and he thinks that maybe he took it a bit too far, so he’s actually relieved when Dex just rolls his eyes and says, “You’ve definitely had too much,” and then goes back to cleaning.

He’s relieved and a tiny bit disappointed, but he decides not to focus on that last feeling.

Instead, he decides to pout and take another sip of his drink, and then he decides to keep pestering Dex, this time by saying, “You haven’t had enough, if you’re still sober enough to clean,” and Dex is rinsing the cloth in the sink and his back is to Nursey,  but Nursey can still tell that he’s rolling his eyes.

“Somebody’s got to keep the rest of you alive,” Dex says, and his voice sounds put out but when he turns around his eyes are soft, so Nursey isn’t concerned.

He knows that Dex likes being put out and he knows that Dex likes taking care of people, and Nursey kind of gets it. Taking care of High Dex had been more satisfying than it had any right to be, and Nursey is still kind of pleased that he was the one who got to do it.

He’s pleased that, out of all of the people Dex could have asked for help from, he asked Nursey, and he’s pleased that it went as well as it did.

Still, right now all he can focus on is how drunk he is and how sober Dex is, and it doesn’t seem fair at all, so he says, “You could still have a bit,” and then he offers up his own can, which Dex looks at but pointedly doesn’t accept.

Instead, he says, “I’m good,” and then crosses his arms and leans again the counter, staring at Nursey with a scrutinizing look for a moment, before he adds, “And that’s your last one,” and, really, Nursey can’t find it in him to protest.

He’s been drinking since they started pre-ing at three, and he’s had a steady mixture of vodka, beer, and pot, since then, and suddenly it’s all hitting him at once. Suddenly he’s tired and his stomach feels terrible and he’s regretting the fact that he practically chugged his last two beers in an attempt to stay drunk because, suddenly, he’s at the point in being drunk where he just wants to be sober again.

Nursey looks at the beer in his hand and he frowns at it profusely, and then he says, “I don’t want it either,” and yeah, okay, maybe his words are a tiny bit slurred and maybe Spring C succeeded in him getting a tiny bit more fucked up than he’d intended, but then Dex is in front of him and he takes the can away, and Nursey feels better already.

Nursey means to ask if they can go home now and he’s pretty sure that he manages something close to it, because Dex presses a cup into his hands and says, “Drink this first,” and that sounds promising.

A tentative sip tells Nursey that the cup’s filled with water, so he takes another sip and he drains the rest in one go and, okay. That wasn’t a good idea. In fact, that might have been a terrible idea because it makes his stomach churn even more, so he puts the empty cup on the table with a bit more force than necessary, and then folds his arms in front of him and rests his head against them and lets out a long groan.

Nursey says, “I’m going to die now,” and his voice is some weird hybrid version of a mutter and a yell combined, and then he closes his eyes and groans again, because the noises kind of make him feel better.

They externalize his discomfort and it’s nowhere near poetry, but it’ll do for now.

He also hears Dex let out a long suffering sigh, before he hears footsteps, and then he hears the chair beside him being pulled out and Dex mutters, “If you puke, I’m never talking to you again,” and Nursey groans again in response, and then he feels a hand on his back and he’s reminded of the fact that he never actually got around to putting a shirt on.

Still, Dex’s hand is rubbing soothing circles into his bare skin, so he can’t really bring himself to be embarrassed.

Instead, he lets the touch ground him.

Dex’s hand is warm and soft and smooth and just heavy enough to remind Nursey that he’s alive, and that’s enough to remind him to focus on his breathing, so that’s what he does. He takes long, deep breaths, in for five seconds, hold for three seconds, out for seven seconds, and he keeps doing that until he feels okay again.

Of course, okay is still a far cry from sober, and when he turns his head to look at Dex, he finds that the room is still kind of spinning.

He still manages to ask, “Home?” and Dex nods.

“This time you’ve actually gotta get your shirt on, though,” he says, and it’s a chirp but it’s also gentle, so Nursey doesn’t protest.

He sits up slowly and he fumbles with the shirt for a bit, but he finds the holes for his arms and head eventually, and then he pulls it on and doesn’t bother with feeling embarrassed when he feels Dex’s hands grab the neckline and finish pulling it down over his head. He also doesn’t feel embarrassed when Dex then grabs the hemline and pulls that down to Nursey’s waist, and he definitely doesn’t feel embarrassed when he realizes just how tight Chowder’s shirt is on him.

He’ll probably feel embarrassed in the morning but, for now, he just tells himself to chill, and he realizes after a moment that he might have said that out loud, because Dex gives him a strange look.

Dex is also blushing, bright red and beautiful, and Nursey giggles to himself when he realizes that being drunk is making him alliterate.

When Nursey tries to explain that much to Dex, Dex’s eyebrows raise and he says, “Shit, Nurse, you really are wasted,” and Nursey just laughs even more. Dex lets him go on for a moment, before he sighs and stands up. “Come on,” he says, nudging Nursey gentle, before he adds, “You wanted to go home, didn’t you?” and suddenly that sounds like the best idea in the world.

Of course, Nursey’s plans for getting there are somewhat stalled when he stands up and practically blacks out, with how fast his blood rushes to his head. As it is, he blinks a few times and sways on the spot, and when he closes his eyes to get a hold on himself, he feels two strong hands gripping his forearms, and they help steady him more than anything.

Nursey leans into the hands and, in turn, he leans into Dex, and then he’s close enough to drop his head onto Dex’s shoulder and press his forehead into Dex’s neck and let their chests fall together, and-

“Fucking hell, Nurse,” Dex mutters, but then he readjusts himself and wraps an arm around Nursey’s waist and the other around his shoulders, and Nursey’s hands fall onto Dex’s chest, and Nursey kind of wants to stay there forever.

He wants to touch Dex and hold onto him and breath into him for the rest of his life, but that’s not an option and his legs are tired so, after a moment, he pulls back and mutters, “’M ready now,” and it’s only then that he actually gets a good look at Dex’s face, so it’s only then that he realizes just how much Dex is blushing, and then-

And then Nursey is poking Dex’s face and stroking it with his finger and giggling to himself, because-

“ _ Red _ . Your face is  _ red _ , and I’m  _ ready _ ,” he says, and Dex groans while Nursey just keeps giggling because, honestly. He’s hilarious. 

Dex’s hair is red too, and when Nursey points that out, Dex rolls his eyes and says, “Alright, I get it, but fucking hell, Nurse, let’s go,” and then he starts walking, so Nursey does too.

He elbows his way into Dex’s side, and then he shimmies a little bit until Dex gets the hint and puts his arm around Nursey’s shoulders, and then Nursey rests his head on Dex’s shoulder, and by that point they’re almost out of the haus, and the only thing that stops them is Holster, standing in front of them and physically blocking their way, with narrow eyes.

He looks from Dex to Nursey and back again, and then asks, “How much has he had?” and Nursey is almost positive that the question isn’t being addressed to him, so naturally he has to answer it.

Of course, all he actually manages to do is hold up four fingers and mutter, “Seven,” and then he gives up on that plan, and groans into Dex’s shoulder instead. 

Over his head, he hears Holster say something and he hears Dex talk too, and then Nursey is way too distracted by the way he can  _ feel  _ Dex’s voice rumbling through his body, and he stops paying attention.

They stay there for a few more moments, before Nursey feels something shift, and then he actually does hear Dex talk again, and he says, “Come on, Nurse, we’re getting you home,” and then Nursey just nods.

The walk is tedious.

The cold air is refreshing and the quiet is nice, but everything else is terrible and Nursey feels like he wants to die the entire way, and he’s so focused on that, that he doesn’t even realize they’re inside his dorm, until they’ve stopped moving and they’re waiting for an elevator.

When he does realize that, Nursey blinks.

He says, “Home,” and Dex nods, and then the elevator doors open and Nursey has to focus on that.

When they finally get to Nursey’s room, Nursey spends way too long searching his pocket for his key, before he finds it and hands it over to Dex, because he knows a lost battle when he sees one, and Dex has the door open before Nursey can even finish that thought. As a result, he stands there stunned for a moment, before he shakes his head and walks inside.

Naturally, he goes straight for his bed.

Nothing else in the room is appealing, and he can’t be bothered to take his clothes off, and he really, really just wants to sleep, but also-

“Dex. Sleep,” he says, and then he manages to lift his head, only to find that Dex is still hovering by the door, with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Nursey repeats, “Sleep,” but it doesn’t do anything.

“You sleep,” Dex says, and then he adds, “I’m gonna head to my dorm,” and that sounds like just about the worst thing in the world, so Nursey tries to say as much, but he can’t find the words and he hates when he can’t find the words because it’s the most frustrating thing in the world, and then he’s just sitting there with his mouth gaping, struggling to form a sentence, and then-

And then he feels tears pricking at his eyes, which he knows is ridiculous, but then-

But then Dex is kneeling beside his bed, placing a hand on the side of Nursey’s face and saying, “Hey, hey, hey, Derek, I’m still here, you’re okay, I’m here,” and the thing is, is that those words  _ do  _ make Nursey feel better, because they’re true.

Dex is still there and Nursey is okay, so Nursey nods and then says, “Don’t leave?” and Dex lets out a long sigh that ends in a smile.

“Of course I won’t,” Dex says, and then Nursey smiles back, and then, before he can think better of it or even try to stop himself, Nursey turns his head slightly and kisses Dex’s palm, and then he closes his eyes and goes to sleep.

Of course, it doesn’t happen that quickly, but Nursey also doesn’t want to focus on the way that Dex freezes above him for half a second, or on the long breath that he hears Dex let out, or on the fact that, maybe, just maybe, Nursey just ruined their friendship and made the whole thing weird, so he doesn’t.

He’s drunk and his head is spinning and Dex doesn’t get up to leave and, at least for now, Nursey lets that be enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think?


End file.
